Ukip surge in County elections UPDATED

In a sensational result Ukip have consolidated their surprise by-election performance and returned three county councillors in Eastleigh taking the seats from the Liberal Democrats while the Conservatives comfortably held their seat in Chandler’s Ford and overall control of the County Council with a reduced majority.

Ukip won 10 seats in the county – their first ever in Hampshire – and so far over 140 nationally in an astonishing surge of support which started in Eastleigh two months ago during the by-election.

The Conservatives were pushed into third place by Ukip in all of Eastleigh’s divisions except Chandler’s Ford – however they had been confident of being able to take Mayor Rupert Kyrle’s Botley seat following a protracted campaign against Council plans for housing in the area. They will doubtless be shocked to find that they have been pushed into third place by Ukip’s Steve Grindley-Robinson while Kyrle will be relieved to see the Conservative vote split.

In Eastleigh’s central West and East divisions, Labour now find themselves the fourth party though will be consoled by their performance elsewhere in the county – they now have four seats instead of one.

In Eastleigh East, Lib Dem hard man Chris Thomas was toppled by his former colleague Andy Moore in a seat which has been held the Lib Dems for 20 years.

Long established Lib Dems Alan Broadhurst (Eastleigh West) and Angela Roling (Bishopstoke and Fair Oak) also lost their seats to Ukip’s Chris Greenwood and Martin Lyon.

The campaign had been noticeably low-key over the last two months, following the snap Parliamentary by-election in February. Stretched budgets, battle-scarred candidates, tired-leafletters and campaign-weary electors combined to make this the most forgettable election campaign in living memory [well, probably..!]

As usual, the count to elect Eastleigh’s County Councillors was held at the Fleming Park Leisure Centre. Business commenced promptly at 10pm, when the polls closed.

With similar elections happening elsewhere across the UK, Eastleigh was of particular interest nationally, as well as locally, to see if the progress that UKIP made at the by-election could be sustained.

Both local Lib Dems and Conservatives had told Eastleigh News that Ukip could not maintain the momentum from the by-election and win seats.

Lib Dem leaflets had ignored the by-election result completely and continued to show a graph based on the 2010 election result which claimed they enjoyed 46% support in the constituency.

Lib Dems claimed they had 46% support although they only polled 32% in by-election. They also ignored Ukip

With just 71 votes separating Lib Dem Alan Broadhurst from Ukipper Chris Greenwood the Eastleigh West result went to a re-count which confirmed Greenwood had won.

As the outcome became clear the Liberal Democrats became, understandably, subdued as they digested the implications the result had for their Borough Council seats next year – which now look unsafe. The downbeat demeanour was in sharp contrast to the hysterics they displayed during the by-election count.

The by-election had provided a useful, and stark, early warning to the Lib Dems that Eastleigh was now a ‘two horse race’ between themselves and Ukip.

In April there had been a seismic shift in support from ‘blue collar’ workers but the Lib Dems chose to ignore it and stick with the tactic that served them so well in the past – scaring voters who might otherwise support Labour into voting Lib Dem to “keep the Tories out”.

Those voters now vote for Ukip – and it is no use arguing ‘Ukip can’t win here’ – that opportunity has been missed – voters now know Ukip can win in Eastleigh.

Eastleigh News was very surprised when shortly after the by-election the Lib Dem Leader dismissed Ukip’s by-election result and said they would stick to their tactic of squeezing the Labour vote.

True, the low turnout may have favoured Ukip and recent trial and imprisonment of disgraced MP Chris “I lied and lied again”‘ Huhne may have hardened voters perceptions but if Leader Keith House continues to stick with the same electoral tactics it will be interesting to see how long the rank and file – whose seats are threatened – will continue to stick with him.

Keith House’s appearance at the count with his arm heavily bandaged – believed to be following an incident with a dog while canvassing- only reinforced the idea that he has been wounded as a result of his election campaign. Even in his own division of Hamble, Cllr House had Ukip paper candidate Chris Martin breathing down his neck.

While the Lib Dems licked wounds Easlteigh’s Ukip members were jubilant and none more so than Andy Moore who two years ago had suffered a humiliating defeat in the local elections losing his Central Eastleigh seat to Lib Dem newcomer Keith Trenchard.

Moore had left the Lib Dems after they had proposed to de-select him and took former Mayor Glynn Davies-Dear with him.

Both of them joined Ukip during the by-election campaign and Glynn Davies-Dear, who previosuly held the Eastleigh East seat for 12 years, shared in the celebration last night having helped mastermind Moore’s successfulcampaign.

“I’ve made History here” he added ” the Lib Dems won this seat in 1993 – it hasn’t changed hands for 20 years”.

Martin Lyon, who is already a Bishopstoke Parish Councillor and has won Bishopstoke and Fair Oak for Ukip was almost lost for words and said that although he had been confident that the party would do well he had not expected to win.

Ukip insiders have told Eastleigh News they regard their Market St ‘shop’ as a key component in their success and will look to extend the lease so it can be used as a regional HQ until at least the 2015 General Election.

Additional reporting and commentary by Stephen Slominski

The results for the 7 divisions that are within the Borough of Eastleigh are as follows.

Bishopstoke and Fair Oak Division

Colin ATTERBURY

The Conservative Party Candidate

656

Martin LYON

UKIP

1824

Angela May ROLING

Liberal Democrat

1657

Mary SHEPHARD

Labour Party Candidate

406

Turnout 33.73%

Botley and Hedge End Division

Ian BENNETT

The Conservative Party Candidate

1263

Andrew HELPS

Labour Party Candidate

294

Rupert Miles Gregory KYRLE

Liberal Democrat

1806

Steve ROBINSON-GRINDEY

UKIP

1652

Turnout: 34.7%

Chandlers Ford Division

Beryl ADDISON

Labour Party Candidate

238

Joe COX

Green Party

124

Colin DAVIDOVITZ

The Conservative Party Candidate

1919

James Ian DUGUID

Liberal Democrat

1557

John EDWARDS

UKIP

1073

Turnout: 40.24%

Eastleigh East Division

Angela Mary COTTON

The Green Party

138

Chris GILKES

Labour Party Candidate

436

Kevin MILBURN

Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ`s Lordship”

56

Andy MOORE

UKIP

1609

Michael Robert Cornwall READ

The Conservative Party Candidate

454

Christopher Andrew THOMAS

Liberal Democrat

1440

Turnout 32.13%

Eastleigh West Division

Alan Frederick BROADHURST

Liberal Democrat

1533

Chris GREENWOOD

UKIP

1604

Hopping Mad HOG

The Official Monster Raving Loony Party

29

Stuart Charles JEBBITT

The Green Party

107

Andy MILLIGAN

The Conservative Party Candidate

659

James PENDERS

Labour Party Candidate

579

Ania WATERMAN

Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts

22

Turnout:34.19%

Hamble Division

Keith HOUSE

Liberal Democrat

1941

Elizabeth Kathleen LEAR

The Conservative Party Candidate

969

Chris MARTIN

UKIP

1402

Chris ROGERS

Labour Party Candidate

254

Turnout: 31.2%

West End and Hedge End Grange Park Division

Pete LUFFMAN

Labour Party Candidate

237

Sarah LYON

UKIP

1261

Paul Andrew REDDING

The Conservative Party Candidate

742

Bruce Robert TENNENT

Liberal Democrat

1520

Turnout: 26.38%

Overall turnout 33.22%

Full results for the whole county can be found here on the Hampshire County Council website.

9 Responses to Ukip surge in County elections UPDATED

And my congratulations to UKIP’s Chris Greenwood, Martin Lyon and Andy Moore who I know will continue to serve the people of Eastleigh regardless of party political persuasion.

Rosie on May 3, 2013 at 11:40 am

Hopefully the Lib Dems will now sit up and realise that UKIP is the biggest threat to them, rather than ignoring the fact that they exist or saying in their campaign material that they are no threat! And that many of we former Lib Dems now vote UKIP because we are sick and tired of the arrogance of Lib Dem councils and councillors locally, their “misleading” (at best!) campaign material (especially regarding “protecting green spaces” – ha!)and that we now want councillors who realise that they are there to represent our interests and not their own. We want honest and clean local politics and not dirty tricks campaigns and party literature.

It was interesting to note some of the absentees last night, usually die-hard and supportive Lib Dems who weren’t at the count.

The grapevine also rumoured that some of the Lib Dems at least are not happy with the election material, or their leader, and they want things to change….

John Edwards - UKIP on May 3, 2013 at 4:45 pm

One of the lies being peddled was that UKIP in Chandlers Ford had admitted defeat. As I was the UKIP candidate there, you can imagine my surprise that we had run up a white flag.

Still, the amount of votes UKIP polled in Chandlers Ford and across Eastleigh, must have been a nice surprise for the coalition partners oh and lets not forget Labour too.

Matthew (Laughing Boy) Myatt on May 3, 2013 at 3:24 pm

Great words and well put. The FibDems are now fast becoming a has been party in Eastleigh and many more FibDems will fall in the coming years locally. Telling lies and twisting the truth has cost them and the people of Eastleigh are waking up to the fact that the FibDem’s locally are a bunch of arrogant, self interested, power freeks who has not interest in the people of Eastleigh or the welfare of Eastleigh Borough. This is just the start of the great fall of the FibDems both locally and nationally and both SID and myself could not be more happy at the great news..”Protecting Green Spaces.” MY ARSE.!!

Good result for UKIP however, we must remember that two thirds of the electorate did’nt vote and
they failed to gain control of a single council. UKIP also let the NF
members stand as candidates for UKIP. BNP members are not allowed to join ukip.But Nigle can break rules when it suits him.
Sam Snook.

Pete Stewart on May 6, 2013 at 6:51 pm

Presumably the 2/3 who didn’t vote were the apathetic majority. Why are they apathetic? Answer: Because it makes no difference whether you vote for a Labour or Conservative government, they are both the same. Hence people don’t bother voting.

But then there was UKIP! I predict UKIP will bring those voters back into the polling stations.